List of Unification Church affiliated organizations

There are a number of organizations founded, run, or supported by the Unification Church, and its founder Sun Myung Moon. Commentators have mentioned Moon's belief in a literal Kingdom of God on earth to be brought about by human effort as a motivation for his establishment of groups that are not strictly religious in their purposes.[1][2] Others have said that one purpose of these organizations is to pursue social respectability for the church.[3] These organizations have sometimes been labeled "front groups", an expression which originally referred to Soviet supported organizations during the Cold War.[4]

The Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) is a collegiate organization founded by Moon and church members in 1955, which promotes intercultural, interracial, and international cooperation through the Unification world view.[5][6] J. Isamu Yamamoto states in Unification Church: "At times CARP has been very subtle about its association with the Unification Church, however, the link between the two has always been strong, since the purpose of both is to spread Moon's teachings."[7]

The Assembly of the World's Religions was founded by Sun Myung Moon. The first assembly was held from November 15 to 21, 1985, in MacAfee, New Jersey. The second was from August 15 to 21, 1990 in San Francisco.[12]

New World Encyclopedia — an Internet encyclopedia that, in part, selects and rewrites certain Wikipedia articles through a focus on Unification values.[20] It "aims to organize and present human knowledge in ways consistent with our natural purposes."[21]

The Professors World Peace Academy was founded in 1973 by Sun Myung Moon,[23] who declared the group's intent to "contribute to the solutions of urgent problems facing our modern civilization and to help resolve the cultural divide between East and West". PWPA now has chapters in over one hundred countries.[24]

New Hope Academy—Landover Hills, Maryland, USA. "Although New Hope Academy was founded in 1990 by members of the Unification faith, it is not a sectarian school. No doctrines are taught; in fact, no classes in religion are offered.However morning services are mandatory,during services discussions about religious doctrines, hymns, and group prayers all take place. We believe it is the job of parents—with the support of their church, temple, or mosque—to impart their personal faith to their child." [30][31]

The Unification Church and church members own a number of businesses in various countries. In Eastern Europe Unification Church missionaries are using the church's business ties to win new converts.[63] David Bromley, a sociologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, said: "The corporate section is understood to be the engine that funds the mission of the church. The wealth base is fairly substantial. But if you were to compare it to the LDS Church or the Catholic Church or other churches that have massive landholdings, this doesn't look on a global scale like a massive operation."[64]

American Freedom Coalition (AFC), a group which seeks to unite American conservatives on the state level to work toward common goals. The coalition, while independent, receives support from the Unification Church.[106]

Christian Heritage Foundation, a private, independent charitable foundation based in Virginia that distributes Bibles and Christian literature to Communist and Third World nations. In 1995 it was given $3.5 million by the Women's Federation for World Peace.[110]

Liberty University. Sun Myung Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han helped to financially stabilize the University through two organizations: News World Communications, which provided a $400,000 loan to the University at 6% interest; and the Women's Federation for World Peace, which indirectly contributed $3.5 million toward the school's debt.[115]

University of Bridgeport of Bridgeport, Connecticut.[119] In 1992, following the longest faculty strike in United States academic history, the University of Bridgeport agreed to an arrangement with the Professors World Peace Academy whereby the university would be subsidized by PWPA in exchange for control of the university. The initial agreement was for $50 million, and a majority of board members were to be PWPA members.[120] The next University of Bridgeport president was PWPA president and holocaust theologian Richard L. Rubenstein (from 1995–1999),[121] and subsequently former U.S. Unification Church president Neil Albert Salonen (2000–present).[122][123]

^Tingle, D. and Fordyce, R. 1979, Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and its Principles, Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press ISBN 0-682-49264-7 p86-87

^Biermans, J. 1986, The Odyssey of New Religious Movements, Persecution, Struggle, Legitimation: A Case Study of the Unification Church Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Ontario: The Edwin Melton Press ISBN 0-88946-710-2 p173

^Helm, S. Divine Principle and the Second AdventChristian Century May 11, 1977 "In fact Moon’s adherents differ from previous fringe groups in their quite early and expensive pursuit of respectability, as evidenced by the scientific conventions they have sponsored in England and the U.S. and the seminary they have established in Barrytown, New York, whose faculty is composed not of their own group members but rather of respected Christian scholars."

^"In 1955, Reverend Moon established the Collegiate Association for the Research of the Principle (CARP). CARP is now active on many campuses in the United States and has expanded to over eighty nations. This association of students promotes intercultural, interracial, and international cooperation through the Unification world view." [1]

^Yamamoto, J. I., 1995, Unification Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House ISBN 0-310-70381-6 "1. The Unification Theological Seminary a. The Unification Church has a seminary in Barrytown, New York called The Unification Theological Seminary. b. It is used as a theological training center, where members are prepared to be leaders and theologians in the church. c. Since many people regard Moon as a cult leader, there is a false impression that this seminary is academically weak. d. Moon’s seminary, however, has not only attracted a respectable faculty (many of whom are not members of his church), but it also has graduated many students (who are members of his church) who have been accepted into doctoral programs at institutions such as Harvard and Yale. [4]

^Church Spends Millions On Its ImageWashington Post September 17, 1984. "In May, a church political group called the Freedom Leadership Foundation paid for four Republican Senate staff members – including aides to Sens. Steve Symms (R-Idaho), Robert W. Kasten Jr. (R-Wis.) and William L. Armstrong (R-Colo.) – to fly to Central America where they met with government leaders and U.S. Embassy officials in Honduras and Guatemala and joined the official U.S. observer delegation to the Salvadoran election."

^My Four and One Half Years with The Lord of The Flies, Allen Tate Wood "From March to December of 1970 I was head of the Unification Church's political arm in the United States (The Freedom Leadership Foundation). On Moon's behalf we sought to defuse the Peace Movement and buttress the hawk position by convincing senators and congressmen that there was substantial grass roots support for a hard line stand in Asia. In 1969 we were just scratching the surface. Today Moon's organization is in a position of vastly increased power and prestige. Through the Freedom Leadership Foundation and its descendant CAUSA, Moon has won the gratitude and respect of many congressmen and senators, not to mention former presidents Nixon, Reagan and Bush."

^Church Spends Millions On Its Image, Washington Post, 1984-09-17. "Another church political arm, Causa International, which preaches a philosophy it calls "God-ism," has been spending millions of dollars on expense-paid seminars and conferences for Senate staffers, Hispanic Americans and conservative activists. It also has contributed $500,000 to finance an anticommunist lobbying campaign headed by John T. (Terry) Dolan, chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC)."

^Public TV Tilts Toward Conservatives, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting "While conservatives dismiss Bill Moyers' world-class documentaries on our constitutional checks and balances as "propaganda," they never mention PBS's airing of unabashed right-wing agitprop films such as Nicaragua Was Our Home (the pro-contra film produced by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's CAUSA, which funded the contras after Congress' ban)..."

^Church Spends Millions On Its ImageWashington Post September 17, 1984."The church-financed International Relief Friendship Foundation recently shipped 1,000 pounds of clothing, nearly seven tons of food and medical supplies to Miskito Indian refugees in the jungles of Honduras, according to Joy Morrow, the foundation's Washington coordinator."

^Fisher, Marc (November 23, 1997). "A Church in Flux Is Flush With Cash". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-11-14. "Also in 1995, the Women's Federation made another donation that illustrates how Moon supports fellow conservatives. It gave a $3.5 million grant to the Christian Heritage Foundation, which later bought a large portion of Liberty University's debt, rescuing the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Lynchburg, Va., religious school from the brink of bankruptcy."

^Financial agreements with PWPA have been terminated and the University has been financially independent since 2004. The University is a licensed and accredited Connecticut nonstock, non-profit corporation with an unpaid Board of Trustees.

^The Words of the Milingo Family, Statement of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification On the Recent Publication of "The Fish Rescued from the Mud" by Archbishop Emanuel Milingo and Michele Zanzucchi